Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to a vehicle pillar structure.
Related Art
Japanese Patent Application Laid-open (JP-A) No. 2011-88495 describes a vehicle body structure where a vehicle body upper portion integrally molded of resin and a vehicle body lower portion made of metal are joined to each other. In this related art, pillars configured as parts demarcating the cabin of the vehicle (vehicle body) are each divided into an upper portion and a lower portion in the vehicle height direction. The lower end portions of the pillar upper portions formed on the vehicle body upper portion side are insertable into open portions formed in the upper end portions of the pillar lower portions formed on the vehicle body lower portion side.
In each open portion is formed a horizontal support portion that is formed along the substantially horizontal direction and closes off the upper end portion of the pillar lower portion. The lower end portion of the pillar upper portion abuts against the horizontal support portion, and thus the pillar upper portion is positioned in the vehicle height direction. Here, an adhesive is applied to the upper end portion of the pillar lower portion, and the lower end portion of the pillar upper portion is adhered (joined) via the adhesive to the upper end portion of the pillar lower portion.
As mentioned above, in the related art, the pillar upper portion is made of resin and the pillar lower portion is made of metal. By making the materials of the pillar upper portion and the pillar lower portion different in this way, a balance is achieved between ensuring that the pillar is strong and rigid and reducing the weight of the pillar.
In this connection, when the pillar upper portion is made of resin, the ability of the driver to see things outside the vehicle (hereinafter “the ability to see outside the vehicle” for simplicity) can be enhanced if the pillar upper portion is made of a transparent resin.